Stock photo unrelated to this story (sorry, guys). Guns line the walls of the firearms reference collection at the Washington Metropolitan Police Department headquarters. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

(Newser)
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The death of a Los Angeles man in his car has led police to a huge stash of firearms and an even bigger pile of strangeness. From what cops can piece together, Jeffrey Alan Lash claimed to be a spy—sometimes a hybrid human-alien spy—and just before he died in his car on July 4, he told his fiancee that government agencies would take care of his body, the Guardian reports. She left town on his orders and called police two weeks later after discovering his rotting corpse was still in the vehicle in the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood. Police found a stash of 1,200 firearms in the apartment they shared—which has now risen to 1,500, according to the Los Angeles Times—along with $230,000 cash, explosives, and 6.5 tons of ammo.

Police say the weapons were legally acquired and that out of 14 vehicles registered to Lash, they've found eight in various LA locations—including an SUV that can drive underwater, the AP reports. The partner of Lash's late father tells the Times that he was a loner and that she lost touch with him years ago and didn't know where his money came from. Police say Lash had late-stage cancer and that foul play is not suspected in his death. He had told his fiancee that his illness was caused by chemical weapons exposure on a secret mission, reports the Guardian, which notes that the "tentative conclusion" investigators have reached is that he was so caught up in a fantasy world of spying that others around him started to believe it.

By the looks of what's in the pic, he had a very nice collection of some rare looking firearms. Let's keep pushing mental illness under the carpet and not "labeling or classifying" people so they feel equal. It's been working great so far.

Bob Jones

Jul 25, 2015 6:37 PM CDT

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2013 firearms (excluding BB and pellet guns) caused 84,258 nonfatal injuries (26.65 per 100,000 U.S. citizens) and 33,636 deaths (10.6 deaths per 100,000). In 2013, a total of 117,894 people in the U.S. were injured or killed by guns. There are currently 318.9 million U.S. citizens. Using the statistics above, in 2013 one out of every 2705 people in the U.S. was shot by a firearm, and one out of every 9481 people was killed by a firearm. If the current trend continues, one out of every 37 people currently living in the U.S. will be shot by a firearm during the course of their life (assuming a 74-year lifetime); one out of every 128 people will be killed by a firearm during their lifetime. Do not vote for any politician who has be bought by the NRA.